Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) have started their title defense with a 6-wicket win over Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the season opener, thanks in part to a scintillating debut by New Zealand’s Jacob Duffy. The Kiwi finished his four overs with 3 crucial wickets of Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, and Nitish Kumar Reddy, while conceding just 22 runs.
While the Chinnaswamy Stadium had already found a new favourite in Duffy, who did more than just fill in for the yet-to-be cleared Josh Hazlewood, RCB captain Rajat Patidar praised the New Zealand pacer for making the most of his opportunity. Speaking at the post-match press conference, Patidar emphasised that both he and the team management had full faith in Duffy’s T20 bowling credentials.
“As we all know, he is a specialist T20 bowler,” said Rajat Patidar, RCB captain, in the post-match press conference. “We have a lot of confidence in him and that’s why we have given him the chance. The way he is delivering and showing his skills, I think that was tremendous.”
Duffy, who had endured a difficult outing just three weeks before the IPL opener in the T20 World Cup final against India, where he returned wicketless figures of 0 for 42 in three overs, chose to stick to his strengths.
“I just tried to keep things fairly simple,” Duffy said after receiving the Player of the Match for his ferocious opening spell. “The plan was to use the new ball, especially since it does a bit here in Bengaluru. We spoke a lot about lengths and what works on this surface.”
